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so what do you guys think of iWork? i'm not exactly sure what apple is trying to do here with this, but i think somehow they'll end up regretting making such a software program.

the reason for my concern is what happened with the onslaught of SAFARI as opposed to IE. i like SAFARI much better than IE, but look what MS did when SAFARI came out. MS knew that their future with IE for MAC was done so they said that they will no longer provide new versions of IE which is fine b/c whatever browser we use to access the internet still takes us to the same internet. it won't hurt the PC user and more importantly it won't hurt the MAC user.

the potential problem with iWork is that it will hinder how MACs and PCs communicate with each other. problems are bound to arise even if iWork is compatible with MS Word. and if iWork becomes wildly popular then what will happen to MS Office for MAC. will MS decide to discontinue this line of software as well? i'm sure learning OS X is a big hindrance for PC users to switch to MAC, but now let's say in the future that MS discontinues Office for MAC, that will just further convince people to stay away from MACs.

let's face the facts here people, MS Windows machines DOMINATE the computer world in terms of market share. i think it's awesome that Apple comes out with machines that don't run a crappy OS, but at some point Apple is going to have to learn when to draw the line and play nice with MS. if Apple is trying to reach the masses with things like the MAC MINI and the iMAC then i think iWork could turn out to be majorly counterintuitive. what do you guys think?

Maybe iWork will sell . It looks liek it comes with some neat things and it's kinda cheap. If it isnt compatible with MS Office, then a new version of Office XP might come out, or they might release a patch to allow iWork files...

iWork is not an Office challenger and Mac Office is selling very well and making MS money. Keynote has existed for 2 years and MS still makes PowerPoint. Pages is more like a Mac version of MS Publisher (which MS doesn't have a Mac version of) than a full featured word processor like Word. Not to mention the lack of any kind of spreadsheet app or contact management program like Entourage.

iWork is no more a challenger than AppleWorks. MS will continue to make Mac office especially if the Mac's market share grows and more businesses and schools switch since they'll demand complete interoperability with Office.

I think this is exactly what Apple wants, their own word processing package that is an equal (or better) to MS Office so Mac users don't have to use Microsoft garbage anymore.

well, i don't see what the problem with MS Office is, but the quality of the product was not my main issue with these programs. the point is that if Apple adopts and embraces iWork, this might force MS to discontinue Office, the software that a huge majority of people use, which will further the gap that people are not willing to cross to become a MAC user. i guess it's nice if everybody i knew and everybody i worked with used MACs, but that's not the truth, it's a very very very small minority, and often times i need to view docs on their machines when i don't have my powerbook and having MS Office for MAC allows me to do so. iWork most likely will not. i think a lot of MAC users are confused as to what Steve Jobs is doing here. he doesn't want to alienate people and create an elite group(evidenced by iPod and Mac Mini), he wants more to join the Apple bandwagon from the PC world and it will become more difficult if FURTHER software incompatibilities arise.

but some people brought up some good points that keynote has been out for 2 years now and PAGE is actually more like MS PUBLISHER which never existed for MACs anyway, so all in all there might be nothing to worry about. there was an article on NEWS.com where MS said iWork doesn't not change it's dedication to the MAC platform.

Mac Office is not going anywhere. As long as people buy it and M$ contiunes to make money off of it. It will still be around. I believe the reason Apple is producing iWorks, is like someone said. To get more people to buy Apple products. iWorks would one of the many packages included on the system. So that once you buy the system you can start to work. You would not have to buy any software, unless you needed to.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, It's about learning to dance in the rain!

Also it imports and exports Word files.. no clue how good it is at doing that, but it is still not a replacement.. not yet at least.. they have a long way to go before they have anything that would replace the Office suite. I think concentration should be put on Open Office if you are scared of someone replacing MS Office.

From the Keynote I understood that iWork was the "Beginning" of the updating Apple Works has needed for ages. I am expecting a Spreadsheet / Data base later, Pages plus Keynote 2 then Cells? plus ??
Then we will have a Great Software bundle to replace Works and for many a replacement for Office.
Apple Works is still being pre-installed on new consumer Macs, Mini Mac etc and iWorks isn't.

From the Keynote I understood that iWork was the "Beginning" of the updating Apple Works has needed for ages. I am expecting a Spreadsheet / Data base later, Pages plus Keynote 2 then Cells? plus ??
Then we will have a Great Software bundle to replace Works and for many a replacement for Office.
Apple Works is still being pre-installed on new consumer Macs, Mini Mac etc and iWorks isn't.

that's the thing though. why would you want to replace MS Office? we need it to work professionally and personally. if APPLE contines on this course with iWORK then it'll create incompatibility issues with the majority of the computer world and in turn will GREATLY hinder people from considering the switch to a MAC.

Im not understanding why this is a problem? iWork imports/exports as Word format.. for those people that can't afford Word, but want to be able to read and write Word formatted documents.. then iWork is for them, same with Open Office and so forth.. people are looking for cheaper alternatives.. iWork is one of those alternatives that is still compatible with Word.. I don't understand the problem?

exactly, i have office on my winblows machine and open office on my linux box, both work togeather fine so whats the problem with another joining the stable?

there must be formatting problems. i have a hard time believing that your docs appear identical or the way you want them to look going back and forth from a windows machine to a mac or vice versa using those other programs. i run into formatting problems going from windows to mac or vice versa using MS Office. but it could definitely just be me, i have that kind of luck.

We haven't used it yet.. in the docs though it says import/export from/to Word.. so who knows at this point I guess it depends on what you are doing.. if your a huge advanced user of Word.. then you probably want to stick with Word because of that reason, but if not.. it's a cheaper alternative by far.